[AustinMike]

I live in SW Austin. We are on the PEC electric grid, not Austin Energy. We lost power for a short period early in the storm and never lost it again. We are on Austin Water and went without water for 4 days. Got it back Sunday evening and are still on the boil notice. My daughter in SE Austin is on Bluebonnet Electric and never lost power. She is also on Austin Water, but never lost water. My son, in central Austin, lost both power and water for four or five days.

As mentioned above, there is a company in Houston, Griddy, that sells electriciy based on the wholesale cost of what they pay for it. It costs $9.99 per month and then whatever power you use based on the cost the company pays for the power. In times of low demand, it's supposed to save the customers money. With the spike in demand, the cost of electricity spiked ... tremendously. So their customers paid whatever Griddy paid for the power. Griddy did send out emails to warn their customers in advance of the storm that they should look for a different provider. Many didn't heed the warning (not sure if I would have either). It cost one retired guy around $17,000. He unfortunately has payments automatically withdrawn from his banking account. So he discovered $17,000 withdrawn from his account.